


Under the Rubble

by snovyda



Category: Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, Explosions, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, ethan and benji being protective of each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 08:34:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16657723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snovyda/pseuds/snovyda
Summary: An unfortunate end of a mission puts Ethan and Benji in a crisis. The potential solutions to it may involve sacrifices they are not prepared to deal with.





	Under the Rubble

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ruthc93](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruthc93/gifts).



> Originally posted on Tumblr for the prompt "Don't you dare fucking let go!"

Their missions were often a chaos. To be truthful, they ended up in chaos much more often than they didn’t. Ethan and Benji were almost done clearing out the floor of the building they were on, when suddenly something exploded, and the two of them were buried under the debris.

Benji was the first one to regain consciousness. His vision was a blur and his entire being was buzzing, tense with adrenaline, not letting him feel the pain. He pushed a fallen beam off of himself and tried to get up. Something was off in his abdomen, and for some reason his legs wouldn’t support his weight, either. He fell just after managing to lift himself up slightly.

“Ethan!”

There was no response, and Benji suddenly felt very cold.

“Ethan!!!” he called louder and started to cough from all the dust around him. He needed to find Ethan. Ethan could be hurt. No good. He tried to get up again and yelped loudly, crashing back down to the floor. Pain finally started to catch up with him. Something was very wrong with his knee. And possibly his ribs. And most definitely his skull. Still, he needed to find Ethan. They needed to get out. Another piece of debris fell right next to him, and he barely had the time to roll out of its way. The entire ceiling looked like it might collapse any moment. They needed to get out of here _fast_.

Leaning on a wooden beam that had fallen near him, he managed to prop himself up.

“Ethan, where are you?” he coughed again, looking around him wildly, feeling increasingly dizzy, his vision getting more and more blurry. “Oh God…”

Just in a few steps from him, he noticed a hand peeking from under a pile of wooden planks and small pieces of concrete. His heart in his throat, he stumbled towards it. He somehow lowered himself to one knee without falling down and began to clear off the rubble, until his breath all but stopped when he was finally able to see what was underneath. Ethan’s face was all covered in dust, making it look greyish white. There was a gash just above Ethan’s temple, and blood was covering almost the entire half of his face. Benji’s hands were shaking violently from all the pain, strain and plain fear, but he willed them to be steady when he pressed his fingers to Ethan’s neck. He allowed himself to breathe again only when he was certain he found a strong and steady heartbeat there.

“Ethan…” he wiped some of the dust off of Ethan’s face and proceeded to stroke it gently. “Come on, Ethan, wake up. Please”.

Another large beam fell heavily not far from them, followed by a big piece of concrete that had previously been part of the ceiling, and Benji thought he might be imagining it, but the floor did not feel that solid anymore.

“Okay. Okay, Ethan. We’re getting out. I’m going to get you out of here, it’s going to be okay”.

He lifted Ethan’s upper body slightly and threw one of Ethan’s arms around his shoulders, wrapping his own arm around Ethan’s waist. He made to get up like this, but it only made more pain explode through him, toppling them both down. It did accomplish one thing, however, as Ethan finally began to stir.

“Hey… hey, buddy,” Benji tried to smile, and sort of succeeded. It was easy to smile when Ethan’s eyes were finally open.

“Benji?”

Benji was pretty sure he was getting déjà vu, but he had no time to reminisce now. He needed to get Ethan out of here, needed to get him to safety.

“Let’s get out of here,” he murmured and attempted to lift Ethan into an upright position again, but it only ended with them falling again, this time both of them crying out in pain.

“Benji… I think my legs are broken,” Ethan slurred as Benji coughed violently. “Are you…. Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay, let me get you out before the whole place collapses on top of us…”

Benji got interrupted by Ethan grabbing his hand.

“You can’t… get both of us out… can you?”

Benji froze for a second, feeling even colder than before.

“Of course I can, just let me- _aaahh_!” another wave of pain made him keel over. He recovered fairly quickly, but not quickly enough for it to escape Ethan’s eye. He ignored Ethan’s stricken expression entirely. He needed to figure out a way to drag Ethan, that was all he needed. He could do this, he knew he could.

“Go on your own”.

“What?” Benji pretended to not comprehend the meaning of those words. His brain was assessing the situation, looking for something he could use for support for both of them. Ethan’s warm hand in his was somehow helping him stay grounded.

“We can’t both get out, Benji,” Ethan slurred. “You go. Please”.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Ethan,” Benji retorted, as if Ethan had just said some silly thing. As if there was no mortal danger around them.

“Benji…” were those tears trekking through the layer of dust on Ethan’s face? Benji gently wiped at it, but only ended up smudging dirt across it. “Please go. I can’t let you… please get out of here”.

Benji shook his head like a stubborn child. He was about to say something, when a giant piece of the ceiling fell right next to them, along with the pillar that used to be on the upper floor. It was so heavy it crashed through the floor next to Ethan’s feet. There was a silent second and then Ethan was falling. Benji yelped, tightening his hold on Ethan’s hand and falling flat on his stomach, pretty sure it broke even more of his ribs. He peered down. Ethan was dangling above the level downstairs, which now had a hole in its floor as well. He felt even dizzier than before, but holding onto Ethan’s hand was the most important thing in the world right now. The hand that had gone slack all of a sudden. Was Ethan…?

“Don’t let go! Don’t you _dare_ fucking let go!” fury gave Benji more strength, just enough to pull Ethan back up.

“Okay,” Benji breathed once they both were on a more solid part of the floor, Ethan looking downright guilty despite the pain he was very visibly in. “Now let’s find a way for us to crawl out of here”.

He knew he sounded much more optimistic than he felt, but he wasn’t going to let Ethan know that. Either way, Benji was not letting him die here alone, and that was the only thing he was certain of.


End file.
